The Triumph of Katie Byrne (7 page)

Katie hurried forward, her eyes on Janet Smith.

She was sitting alone on a small two-seater sofa, looking worried and forlorn. Her short, platinum-blonde hair was all awry, as if she’d been running her hands through it endlessly. Her face was as white as a bleached sheet, and there were dark violet smudges under her pale grey eyes, which were bloodshot from crying and filled with terror. As always, she wore black wool slacks and a matching black sweater; her beige raincoat was thrown over the arm of the sofa, and she tightly grasped the handbag resting in her lap.

She looked up as Katie came to a standstill in front of her, and blinked rapidly, frowning, as if she didn’t know who Katie was for a moment. Then she got a grip on herself, and said, in a hoarse whisper, ‘Oh Katie, there you are…’

‘I’m sorry we’re so late in coming, Mrs Smith,’ Katie apologized, and went on to explain swiftly, ‘Niall and I had to help the police. They kept us for ages. We had to give statements, and then Dad came to get us and we went home together to get Mom and Fin.’

‘We came as soon as we could, Janet.’ Maureen spoke softly, and seated herself next to Janet, who looked at her through the corner of her eye, then nodded dourly.

‘How’s Carly doing?’ Katie asked, crouching down next to Mrs Smith’s knees, her face full of genuine concern, her blue eyes spilling sympathy.

‘Thankfully, her skull has stopped bleeding, and although she’s still unconscious, the neurologist says he
thinks she’ll regain consciousness in the next few days.’

Katie let out a huge sigh of relief, and she smiled for the first time in hours. ‘Oh, this is good news, we’ve all been so worried about Carly. Do you think I can see her, Mrs Smith?’ She gazed at her friend’s mother expectantly.

Janet stared back, shaking her head, and made a moue with her thin mouth. ‘No, they won’t let you, I haven’t seen much of her myself. She’s hooked up to a lot of tubes and machines, and there are two policemen guarding her door.’ Sudden tears sprang into her pale eyes, and she sucked in her breath, then gasped, ‘It’s terrible when you think of it…that she might be in danger still. My poor Carly, my poor little girl.’

Touched by Janet’s plight, and worried about her, Maureen put a comforting arm around her. ‘Look, she’s going to be all right. It’s just a precaution, the police being there.’

Katie rested her hand on Mrs Smith’s knee. ‘Carly
saw
him. So she can identify him, and that’s why the police have posted guards. In case he comes to the hospital. But he won’t come, and you mustn’t worry, because the police are going to catch him.’

Janet looked distracted for a moment, glancing around the waiting room, and then she finally tried to look at Katie. ‘Do you think they will? Catch him?’

‘I really do. And listen, Carly’s going to be fine. She’s young and strong and healthy, and she’s a fighter. She’ll make it, Mrs Smith.’

Wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, Janet finally nodded. ‘At least my Carly’s alive, which is more than –’ The rest of her sentence remained unsaid, but they all knew exactly what the unspoken words were.

Maureen leaned closer. ‘Tell us what we can do to help you, Janet. You only have to ask, nothing’s any trouble, and we’re here for you.’

Janet nodded, then glanced at Michael and his sons, standing off to one side. ‘It was nice of you to come, Michael. And you, too, Niall.’ She tried to smile without much success. Moving closer to Maureen, she grasped her hand tighter. ‘And you Maureen, and Katie, thanks for offering to help. But honest, there’s nothing you or anyone else
can
do. It’s up to the doctors.’

‘All you have to do is phone us,’ Michael said. ‘Whatever it is you want. We just feel you should know you have friends.’

‘In your time of need,’ Fin said.

For the first time, Janet smiled weakly. ‘Thank you, Fin.’

Maureen thought, the little scamp. But she made no comment, deeming it wiser.

Janet concentrated on Katie, peering at her. ‘The police told me you found Carly. Found
them.
Tell me. Please tell me about it.’

‘I’d forgotten my school books at the barn, and when Niall came home just after six he drove me back to
get them. The lights were on, and I thought Carly and Denise had stayed late to rehearse, or do their homework. But they weren’t there. And then we saw their coats, so Niall and I went looking outside,’ Katie explained. ‘We found Carly first, resting on her back in the little wood, and her head was bleeding. But Niall said she was definitely breathing, so we knew she was alive. A bit away from Carly, he found Denise. She was already…dead. Niall sent me to phone for the ambulance, and he stayed behind to look after Carly.’

Turning her head, settling her gaze on Niall, Janet Smith said, in a low voice, ‘Thanks, Niall, for staying with Carly. You probably saved her life. Did she…
say
anything?’

Niall walked over to the sofa, shaking his head. ‘No, I’m afraid she didn’t, Mrs Smith. I think she was probably unconscious by then.’

Janet could only nod, and then she began to sob once more, bringing her hands to her face. And she wept and wept, the tears trickling through her fingers and down onto her handbag in her lap.

Her heart aching, Maureen wrapped both her arms around Janet and held her in a close embrace, endeavouring to comfort her. She understood totally how Carly’s mother felt, understood how much she was suffering. Maureen could scarcely bear to think about the other mother involved in this tragedy, and the emotional
turmoil
she
must be enduring. Poor Lois. Her beautiful daughter Denise was on a cold slab in the morgue. That was unbearable even to contemplate.

Eventually, Janet seemed to settle down and the sobbing slowly ceased. It was then that Maureen said, in a soothing voice, ‘Janet, I know you probably don’t feel like eating, but can we take you out for something, even if it’s only a cup of coffee or a drink?’

‘That’s kind, Maureen. You and Michael have both been kind to me, ever since Barry died. But I’m not hungry. And since the doctors are forcing me to leave, I guess I’ll go home. There’s nothing I can do here and they won’t let me see Carly again. Not tonight. They told me that. And I was in her room just before you arrived.’ She shook her head, exhaling. ‘Oh dear, I’m going to cry again.’ Swallowing hard, she somehow managed to quickly get hold of her floundering emotions, and was able to continue. ‘The police brought me here, so my car’s at my house. Could you drive me home? That would be a help, Maureen.’

‘Yes, of course. Of course we will.’

Outside, the storm was now raging. Thunder and lightning and hard rain sluicing down greeted them as they returned to the lobby of the hospital.

‘Let me go first,’ Michael said to them. ‘So that I can unlock the jeep. And give me a second to pull up in front, then make a dash for it.’ Glancing at his wife, he said,
‘It’ll be best if Janet squeezes in the back with you, Katie and Fin.’

‘There’s room enough for us all,’ Maureen assured him.

Seconds later they were all rushing out through the front door and scrambling into the jeep, wiping their wet faces with tissues once they were settled inside.

Maureen and Michael tried to make conversation on the way to Janet’s house, but it was desultory at best, and in the end they fell quiet, understanding she was in the wrong frame of mind for talking. At one moment, Maureen did ask her if she wanted Katie or herself to sleep over that night, but Janet declined, telling them that she wanted to be on her own.

In a short while they were pulling up at Janet’s front door, and after thanking them again, she made a dash for it through the driving rain. Once she had opened the door, she turned, waved and disappeared into the house.

‘I wish she’d let me stay with her; or you, Mom,’ Katie murmured. ‘I hope she’s going to be all right.’

‘Oh she will be,’ Maureen answered. ‘She’s quite a strong person, tough. And let’s face it, Carly’s alive, and the doctor says she’ll come out of her unconscious state by the weekend, thank the Lord.’

‘Carly was lucky,’ Niall interjected.

‘Yes, lucky because you and Katie got there in the nick of time,’ Michael added. ‘Now, we’d better pass by the Matthewses’, see what we can do to help them.’

It was only a short drive up the road to the house where Peter and Lois Matthews lived, and once he had brought the car to a standstill, Michael and Maureen alighted, and went to the door. The house was in total darkness, and Maureen said, looking up at the windows, ‘Maybe they’ve already gone to bed.’

‘I doubt it,’ Michael replied, ringing the bell and banging the brass door knocker. No one answered, and after a couple of seconds, he took Maureen’s arm and led her away. ‘We’re getting soaked to the skin. Come on, honey, let’s go home.’

When they were back in the jeep, Maureen said, ‘Do you think they’re at Ted’s house?’ and took some tissues from the box Katie was offering, wiped her face.

‘It’s possible.’ Michael turned on the ignition and pulled away from the kerb. ‘But it’s too far to drive there now, and also too late. I’ll phone Ted when we get home.’

‘We should keep an umbrella in this jeep, Dad,’ Fin announced in his piping child’s voice. ‘Then Mom wouldn’t get so wet.’

‘I put one in the back the other day,’ Michael told him. ‘But, mysteriously, it’s disappeared.’

‘The wee faeries took it,’ Fin shot back, mouthing a favourite phrase Maureen used when anything went missing.

They all laughed.

Then Katie said, ‘All this rain isn’t going to help the police, is it, Dad?’

‘No, it’s going to hamper their investigation, that’s for sure. But Mac is a good cop, the very best, and if anybody can solve this crime he can.’

Katie sat in front of the big stone hearth in the kitchen, wearing her pyjamas and warmly wrapped in a blue fleecy-wool dressing gown. She was nursing a mug of tea and staring into the fire, watching the red and amber flames leaping up the chimney, her mind befogged with a jumbled mixture of thoughts.

Once they had returned home from New Milford Hospital, her mother had made them all take off their damp clothes and get ready for bed. Then she had given them bowls of hot soup and turkey sandwiches in the kitchen, and even Katie had partaken of the soup, despite her lack of appetite. But she had no stomach for food.

Faintly, behind her at the kitchen table, she could hear her mother mildly chastising Fin for having eaten his turkey sandwich too quickly, and in the background a piano concerto was playing on the radio, turned down low. All too quickly the concerto finished, and she fell back down to earth, came back to reality with an uncomfortable bump. Her mind started to churn all over again, so many different thoughts jostling for prominence in her head.

There, in the dancing flames of the fire, she saw her dearest friends staring back at her…Carly and Denise, the two of them together. Carly’s face, sexy, voluptuous but, oddly, also sweet and endearing. The glossy black curls, those irresistible dimples in her cheeks, and eyes the colour of pansies. Carly would be all right, she would make it; all at once, Katie felt absolutely certain of that. She knew her friend almost as well as she knew herself. Carly was a true survivor, a fighter who would battle through and win…Now Denise became more prominent in the flames, her exquisite face so calm and gentle, her eyes of velvet brown so soft and loving, and around that alluring face the shimmering hair falling to her shoulders, long smooth skeins of gold…Then she was gone…only Carly remained, only she was constant in the flames.

Katie let out a long sigh. It didn’t seem possible, but it was true…Denise
was
gone. Lost to her, lost to all of them forever. A lump came into her throat and she swallowed.
Never to see Denise again.
Never to hear her laughter, never to share their dreams and hopes.

Death.
She had never known death before. It hurt so much. Katie felt the tears welling and she closed her eyes, leaned back in the chair, sat perfectly still, reflecting.

Today had been the worst day of her life, and yet it had started out so well, had been so full of promise. She had walked to school this morning in the bright October sunshine, full of excitement about the school
concert in December, and the start of the holiday season, beginning with Thanksgiving. Carly and Denise had been waiting for her at the school gates, and they had shared English literature and history lessons, which were their favourites. And later they had eaten lunch together, and in the afternoon, after school was out, the three of them had gone off to the barn. Happy, laughing, full of hilarity and excitement, making their plans; she rehearsing the well-practised soliloquy from
Hamlet
; Carly and Denise cheering her on, as always her greatest fans and boosters.

At the end of the afternoon, the long walk home alone, through the deserted fields shrouded in mist and so eerie in the fading light. And finally coming back into the warmth and brightness of this kitchen, coming home. Helping her mother with supper, and then going off with Niall to retrieve her books, unsuspecting, not tuned in to thoughts of tragedy since she was entirely focused on their elaborate plans for the coming year. Then finding Carly and Denise in the wood. It was unendurable to picture them there, her dearest friends damaged beyond belief, one horribly beaten, one murdered and raped.

Shuddering, Katie sat up, took a sip from the mug of hot tea she was holding, and pushed these images of them far away from her. In the background, the radio was still playing, a piece of music she did not recognize.

And then above the music she heard Niall’s voice.

‘I’m going to bed, Mom, Dad. I’m bushed.’

The sound of his footsteps as he crossed the kitchen, coming towards her, coming to say goodnight. Always the good brother, loving, kind. His hand on top of her head, a gentle touch, his face next to hers. He said, in a low voice, ‘It’s been a terrible day, Katie, but try to get some sleep. And try not to fret. Things’ll be better tomorrow.’

She looked into his eyes and attempted a smile. ‘It’s got to get better, Niall. It couldn’t get any worse than it is already, could it? And thanks…for looking after me tonight.’

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, and she touched his hand resting on her shoulder. There was nobody better than Niall. He smiled, very faintly, turned, and walked away.

She heard him say to Fin, ‘Come on, sport, it’s time for bed, let’s go up together.’

Fin was scrambling out of his chair, saying, ‘Niall, listen. Dad says Mr Turnbull is going to let me see the beaver dam down by his pond. Did you know that beavers have the sharpest teeth, incisors for cutting down whole trees? And they build underwater lodges where they live, as well as making dams.’

‘Let’s go, Fin, and you can tell me all about those industrious little beavers, once you’re tucked up in bed.’

Her mother began to cough, and Katie glanced at her in alarm. But Maureen turned on the tap, filled a glass
with cold water, drank some of it quickly, and seemed to be all right.

Katie sank back into the chair and stared into the fire. Soon her mother began to stack the dishwasher, and in a peculiar way there was something suddenly comforting, reassuring about the familiar noise. Katie stood up, and called, ‘Do you want me to help you, Mom?’

‘No, no, I’m almost finished,’ Maureen answered. ‘In a minute I’ll come and have a quiet cup of tea with you, before I go to bed myself.’

A moment later her father was dialling the phone and then, after letting it ring and ring, he threw it back into the cradle in frustration, and exclaimed, ‘Still no answer at the Matthewses’. It just doesn’t make sense under the circumstances, Maureen.’

‘And they’re not at Ted’s either,’ her mother remarked, ‘so perhaps they’ve checked into a motel. For a little bit of privacy.’

Katie exclaimed, ‘Dad, I remember that Denise used to go off to stay with an aunt sometimes. Her mother’s sister. It was in Litchfield. Aunt Doris. But I don’t know her last name. Unfortunately. It could be that the Matthewses went there. Mrs Matthews must be devastated; perhaps she wanted to be with her sister, with her nearest and dearest, you know, for comfort.’

‘That’s a possibility.’ Michael swung to Maureen. ‘Is there any more tea, honey?’

‘It’s gone cold. But I’ll put the kettle on and make a fresh pot for us all.’

A short while later Katie sat with her parents in front of the kitchen fire, sharing the fresh pot of tea with them. None of them spoke, and she herself was wrapped in silence, her mind still whirling with all kinds of troubling thoughts.

She muttered in a glum sort of voice, ‘It was all wrong.’

‘What was?’ Maureen asked, staring.

‘Seeing Carly’s mother at the hospital.’

‘What do you mean by
all wrong
?’ Her father threw her a puzzled look.

‘What I mean is, it didn’t work. It was a waste of time. She didn’t care whether we were there or not. She was just being polite, and she wouldn’t have missed us if we hadn’t gone.’

Michael looked at his daughter alertly, his black brows drawing together in a frown. His slate-green eyes were thoughtful. ‘That’s true, Katie. She
has
always been an odd duck. I was Barry’s friend, you know, since our junior high days, and when he died, I tried to help Janet get through her grief, and so did your mother. But she never wanted us around, not really.’

‘She’s not a woman who likes intimacy or familiarity,’ Maureen volunteered. ‘At least, that’s my opinion. ‘Tis a pity, but she’s kept everyone at arm’s length, and by
that I mean Barry’s friends. But still, that doesn’t make her a bad person, does it?’

‘No. But there is something cold about her.’ Katie looked from her mother to her father. ‘Cool and collected. ’ Katie shook her head. ‘In a way, I wish we hadn’t gone. It was so…banal.’

‘
Banal
,’ Maureen repeated. ‘What a funny thing to say.’ She gave Katie a curious stare. Her daughter surprised her sometimes, in much the same way Finian did with the odd things he came out with.

‘Trite, Mom. And it was certainly not very important to Mrs Smith. Even though she thanked us, in a way they weren’t the right words, she didn’t
say
the right words.’

Again startled by his daughter’s insight, Michael said, ‘Now that you mention it, Katie, I think you’re probably right. But we had to go to the hospital, for Carly’s sake. And our own. How could we have lived with ourselves, if we’d not gone? We’ve known Carly almost all of her life, and she’s your dearest friend. It was the only decent thing to do. And I know your mother agrees.’

‘Yes, I know she does, and I do, too, Dad. I was only trying to say that I don’t think Carly’s mother was at all grateful. She didn’t appreciate our being there.’

‘Perhaps she did, Katie darlin’, we can’t be sure,’ Maureen remarked in a quiet tone. ‘Janet’s always been so…
contained.
In control. Revealing nothing. Although God only knows what she’s been trying to hide.
Maybe nothing at all. Perhaps she just can’t properly express herself…’ Maureen broke off, shrugged. ‘Well, we made the effort to go and comfort her, and that’s what counts. And we shall go again to see how Carly is, and keep going to the hospital till that girl’s on her two feet again.’

‘Mom, Dad, did you notice Mrs Smith never made any reference to the Matthewses, or to Denise? Wasn’t that peculiar?’

‘She cut herself off when Denise’s name was on the tip of her tongue,’ Michael muttered.

‘Yes, we all noticed that, I think.’ Maureen gave a long sigh. ‘It was a bit shocking, not a thought, not a word for Denise or her parents.’

A silence lay between them for a few minutes, but eventually Michael broke it when he looked across at Katie and said, ‘Are you
really sure
Denise didn’t have a boyfriend?’

Katie shook her head vehemently. ‘She didn’t, Dad! Just as Carly didn’t, doesn’t, and neither do I. You
know
that. You know how much we all wanted to go to New York, to go to acting school. It’s all we’ve thought about, talked about and aimed for, and for years. Boys haven’t figured into anything we did, Dad.’

‘That’s what I thought,
believed
, and that’s what I said to Mac MacDonald.’

‘And I told Detective Groome the same thing. He kept pressing me about Denise, asking me whether or not
she had a boyfriend when he took my statement. And I kept telling him there was no boyfriend, and no secret admirer, either.’

A short while after this, her father went to lock the doors, and then the three of them trooped upstairs together. On the landing, her parents kissed her goodnight, and Katie went into her room and closed the door.

Within seconds she was in bed, curled up in a ball underneath the eiderdown, squeezing her eyes tightly shut, pressing back the sudden flow of tears with her fingertips. She sighed, and tried to settle down, wanting to go to sleep.

She was almost dozing off when there was a tap on the door, and her mother peeped in.

‘Are you asleep?’ Maureen whispered.

‘Still awake, Mom.’

Maureen crept into the room, sat down on the edge of the bed and smoothed her hand over Katie’s soft young cheek, her eyes overflowing with love for her daughter. ‘I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through such an awful thing as this. It’s a terrible tragedy.’ Leaning forward, Maureen put her arms around Katie and brought her close. ‘You’re devastated, I know. We all are, but we’ll get through it somehow. You have to be strong, Katie, and very brave. The next few days are not going to be easy for you, nor the coming weeks and months. You’ll be grieving for Denise, and you must grieve. ‘Tis not a
good thing to bottle grief up. That’s what I came to say…let your grief come out, take as long as you want to mourn her. And be there for Carly, she’s going to need you, Katie. She’ll need all of us, in fact, and all the help she can get.’

‘I know, Mom.’ Her voice was muffled, her head still pressed into her mother’s shoulder.

‘And there’s just one other thing…always remember that your father and I are here for you.’

‘I know you are, Mom.’

Maureen released her.

Katie lay back against her pillows, looking up at her mother, then she reached out, touched her face gently with one finger. ‘I love you, Momma.’

‘And I love you too, Katie mine.’

Her mother quietly slipped out of the room and Katie closed her eyes and willed herself to go to sleep. But for the longest time she could only think about her friends, and disturbing images of them, in distress and needing her, floated around in her head…until at last she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Katie awakened with a start.

She sat up in bed, looking around the room as though there were an intruder within its confines. But she was alone in the darkness, and yet something had made her come awake, sit up like this with a jolt.

The room was icy cold. The curtains were billowing
out from the window, which she had opened earlier. Throwing back the cover, she climbed out of bed and glided across the floor to close it, and then stood for a moment, staring out.

There was a full moon in the velvet-black sky, which was clear and without clouds, and the stars were crystalbright and sparkling now that the storm had passed. How beautiful her mother’s garden looked, everything washed with silvery moonlight. Closing the window, she turned away, and as she did she thought she saw a dark image darting across the lawn and into the trees.

Katie froze. She was unable to move, and she began to shake. What was it? A deer? Or a man?

Not again, she thought, I can’t be seeing things again. She pressed her face against the window, staring out. But of course there was nothing, no one there. She snapped her eyes shut, then swiftly opened them again, and looked down at the garden, scanning it. There was no sign of life; it was totally deserted, filled only with moonlight and shadows.